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Emulate an Iphone USB interface to a car radio?

I recently purchased a car that has a USB interface for the radio. My wife's Iphone fully integrates with it, of course, and via the radio's interface but the Samsung only mounts as a connected drive.
I have read other thread where people were able to force their Samsung into car dock mode by modifying a USB cable. Is there anyway to just do that in software?

you misunderstand what car mode is.

Good luck! I switched back to my iPhone for this reason alone. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I couldn't get this to work via the USB interface and I don't have bluetooth on my head unit. I can't seem to get the newest update to see if that works either. Would love to know if someone has a solution that doesn't require making your own cable.

yo sleze..what model car if i may ask?
i made my own auxiliary input for my car(i know its not a big feat) with an old dsl filter a soldering gun and some resistors and capacitors.. i might be interested in creating a usb interface for my car and then maybe i can give you some insight .. big maybe

well you will never get the headunit to command the phone, android simply doesn't support anything like that. but you can get audio over USB which is triggered by shorting a couple pins through a resistor. ill have to look up that thread but there may already be a dongle or cable out there to do this. it may not be say "android carmode" but if you find the name of the USB standard that they use to trigger it you can find the appropriate cable or dongle.

isnt there a usb headset available that can stop/start music and next track functionality ..if so you could (in theory) make a usb interface that would allow the head unit or in my case steering wheel control to work similarly?

no it wont command the phone. the framework and apps don't have an interface for that. plus the headunit would need special drivers if the phone had that capability. the issue with android is too many manufacturers do things different so unless google comes out with that on a nexus and tells maunfacturers the way it needs to be implimented I don't see any hope.
there might be a way to echo the commands through adb if you have a computer in your car. but I guess you'd have to know how the music app works for that.
we All know apple has the accessories market down pretty good. even though some older accessories don't work with the newest hardware. that's the one thing apple is good for, a wide accessory market.
now if you have a Bluetooth controler and it uses the right protocol to work with thw samaung bluetooth stack then you might be able to map keys to certain functions with an app or simple configuration file editing. but as far as USB goes I don't think android is designed to host USB input devices. there is limited otg usb support on certain special galaxy s and nexus 1 and nexus s kernels but nothing native.
maybe some 3rd party root app could eventually be developed but I haven't heard of one yet.
besides all that, who knows if the head unit will know to go into audio over USB mode in the first place, even if you get the phone in that mode, will the headunit be looking for USB storage and an iPhone interface only? was it designed to accept USB audio other than an iPod interface?

well with my car BMW mad a usb interface for ipod/iphone.. i hate mac so scratch that.. i also have a usb interface(i can control radio/nav functions via carputer) that is designed to work with I-BUS (intelligent input bus) which is what some BMW's used for audio/nav integration. some newer models actually come with a usb input that was designed to work with most media players..so i thought maybe with some time/frustration/rum..i might be able to make it work..

mejori said:
well with my car BMW mad a usb interface for ipod/iphone.. i hate mac so scratch that.. i also have a usb interface(i can control radio/nav functions via carputer) that is designed to work with I-BUS (intelligent input bus) which is what some BMW's used for audio/nav integration. some newer models actually come with a usb input that was designed to work with most media players..so i thought maybe with some time/frustration/rum..i might be able to make it work..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It still to my understanding that on BMW iDrive system will have full integration with iOS. We had a 2010 5 series at home with all the bell and whistles on it, and even then it would only display song names. With my iPod we got full library options, podcast too. Android will only be able to be used as a mounted devices.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

I used to have an iPhone and installed this kit http://usaspec.com/product.php?ProductID=18. After switching to android I just use a 2.5mm to RCA cable to plug in to the same unit. Not worried too much about integrating with car controls - I also use a phone mount. Does your head unit have any AUX IN connectivity? Maybe on the rear? If so just play audio through the headphone jack. There's always the lighter socket RF adapter option too, but audio quality with those things can be lame.
Samsung-SGH-I997 Infused 2.3.3

yeah the headphone amp on the infuse has pretty good fidelity too. the headphone Jack might not be as convenient as a single USB that also charges the phone but I'd you want to use the playlists and 3rd party apps like Pandora or Google music its the best way. audio over USB needs the dock or special cable to trigger but I don't know which headunits will support that.

PX5 USB Audio problems & finds discussion thread

I know that a lot of people here likes good sound quality and want to use USB DAC on their head unit.
So I started this thread so maybe someone can come up with a solution to get rid of our USB Audio problems. :good:
First of all, I have 3 different USB audio interfaces I tried on my MTCD PX5 head unit. I use these for SPDIF Coaxial output, so I can send a clean digital signal to my DSP (MiniDSP 6X8) spdif input.
My USB audio devices:
PCM2704 (Worst sound quality of the 3, but still good)
CM6631A (Nice sound quality)
SMSL x-usb (XMOS chip) (Excellent, best sound quality of my adapters)
Here is my findings for each model so far:
PCM2704 - With native Android USB Audio driver (MTCD Music player, Spotify, Google Music, etc) : Plays without any pops&clicks noises 44khz, 48Khz, 96Khz files (Thats good).. BUT only in MONO, so no stereo ! (That sucks.)
PCM2704 - With custom USB Audio driver (Usb Audio Player Pro, Neutron, Hibby, Onkyo apps) : Plays perfectly 44khz audio files but CANNOT play 48khz or 96khz audio files, there is no sound. at all :crying:
CM6631A - With native Android USB Audio driver (MTCD Music player, Spotify, Google Music, etc) : Lots of pops&clicks noises, cannot listen to this.. BUT output in stereo, plays 44khz/48khz/96khz files.
CM6631A - With custom USB Audio driver (Usb Audio Player Pro, Neutron, Hibby, Onkyo apps) : Lots of pops&clicks noises, cannot listen to this.. Output in stereo, plays 44khz/48khz/96khz.
SMSL X-USB Xmos - With native Android USB Audio driver (MTCD Music player, Spotify, Google Music, etc) : Lots of pops&clicks noises, cannot listen to this.. BUT output in stereo, plays 44khz/48khz/96khz files.
SMSL X-USB Xmos - With custom USB Audio driver (Usb Audio Player Pro, Neutron, Hibby, Onkyo apps) : Lots of pops&clicks noises, cannot listen to this.. Output in stereo, plays 44khz/48khz/96khz.
Good to know:
PCM2704 is USB 1.1 full speed device, isosynchronous.
CM6631A is USB 2.0 fullspeed/high speed device, asynchronous.
SMSL X-usb Xmos is USB 2.0 fullspeed/high speed device, asynchronous.
Also good to know: Android Marshmallow 6 Mono output USB Audio problem is a well known problem across multiple Android devices (Cellphones, tablets, etc.) So lets assume the mono output on the PCM2704 is "normal". What is not normal with the PCM2704 is that it can only play 44khz audio, no 48khz.
First question that comes to my mind: Does the PX5 USB drivers/kernel has a problem with USB2.0 ?
Another question: Does our PX5 firmware mess with the sample frequency (44khz, 48khz, etc) ?
Thanks for any useful comment !

I can't believe I'm the only one here using a USB DAC on a PX5..?

I also interested
Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
How to get the px5 use usb as digital out? I tried cyrus soundkey but no sound
Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Tapatalk

excellent thread, I was just trying to search on this very thing. My guess that using this as audio output it does not pass the radio or AVIN through it does it? since the MCU is separate from android
I have heard (but not tested first hand) that these will play stereo on 6.0.1
HiFimeDIY Sabre 2016
SA9227 + PCM5102A ( on eBay, http://www.ebay.com/itm/182289773453?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT)
M2Tech HiFace DAC
FiiO Q1

-=Jeff=- said:
excellent thread, I was just trying to search on this very thing. My guess that using this as audio output it does not pass the radio or AVIN through it does it? since the MCU is separate from android
I have heard (but not tested first hand) that these will play stereo on 6.0.1
HiFimeDIY Sabre 2016
SA9227 + PCM5102A ( on eBay, http://www.ebay.com/itm/182289773453?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT)
M2Tech HiFace DAC
FiiO Q1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I test my 3 USB audio devices with USB Audio Player Pro, they all work great on my Android 6 Lenovo Tablet, Nexus 6P cellphone (Android 7/ Android 8 Beta), and worked perfectly on my previous PX3 (RK3188) (Android 5.1) Head unit.
So I dont think it's a compatbility problem with the Android version, it's more of a software/kernel issue, the way the audio is handled with the PX5.
I tried changing some settings in audio_policy.cfg but I did not manage to stop the pops/clicks from happening.

Hi,
I am also very interested in using USB Audio on a PX5.
I have an EONON GA7150A 32GB BMW unit.
MCU is "MTCD_WWW_V2.54b_2", Build is "px5-userdebug 6.0.1 MXC89l user.hct.20170617.171922 test-keys"
I run a car audio / performance / engineering company. We're doing a SQ install on a 04 BMW M3 with all Audison Prima gear going to an Audison Bit 8.9 amp/processor.
I got a Behringer UCA-222 hoping to use it - plugging it into my tablet (Samsung Tab S 8.4") - it works perfectly without any configuration, so I had hoped it'd work with the Android HU as well.
Plugging it into the Android HU - it DOES work - I can play audio from any apps (YouTube, Google Voice Search both output to the USB device) - I have installed SoundAbout Pro to try and re-route all audio to the USB DAC but it doesn't work for everything.
My issues are:
- The FM radio plays through the internal pre-amp/amplifier.
- The volume control (whether through the touchscreen on the menu, or using the hardware knob) does not affect the USB device - there is no way to change it's volume from the head unit this far.
I'm ready/willing to flash/hack this unit as best I can, can't brick it as it belongs to a client (fingers crossed) but I definitely want to use the USB DAC full-time.
If I could find a way to loop the RCA inputs to the optical output on the UCA222 (maybe a custom app) that would be enough to route the radio output through the optical but that's definitely not ideal.
There has to be other people wanting/needing to do this! These units DACs leave a lot to be desired (I'm being nice) and there's a huge selection of great USB DACs.. Heck, in my configuration I won't even be using the DAC in the Behringer - it'll be all digital until it hits the Audison processor/amp with it's internal DAC feeding it's internal amp and a pre-amp that outputs to the separate sub-woofer amplifier (AP1D).
I have the deck setup on my desk right now hooked to a power supply and booted, on WiFi and ready for hacking. What can we do?
From what I've read the MCU controls all the hardware buttons - though I'm not sure it'll be required to mess with it..?
How does Android see the internal audio chip? I know the MCU communicates with it over SDIO, does android as well? I guess no as I read another thread that has a hack/app allowing more control over the audio chip by interfacing one the SoCs GPIO/SDIOs to the chip.
So, how does the radio app work then? Does it just send a signal telling the radio chip to route its audio to the audio chip? Or does Android actually see some sort of audio device for the radio? If it just tells the audio chip which "source" to use and the radio chip outputs directly to it, I'm not sure there's going to be a way to get radio over digital without a converter box to convert that analog output to digital..
All other Android outputs shouldn't be a problem, from what I can tell everything else is already playing over USB for me.. except the radio and volume control.. even the "beeps" you hear when adjusting the volume come over the internal audio device not USB..but Google Voice Search and YouTube work over USB fine..
---------- Post added at 03:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 AM ----------
I find it odd that your seeing pops/clicks.. I have had no issues and fully stable audio from the apps it does work from.

forbiddenera said:
Hi,
I am also very interested in using USB Audio on a PX5.
I have an EONON GA7150A 32GB BMW unit.
MCU is "MTCD_WWW_V2.54b_2", Build is "px5-userdebug 6.0.1 MXC89l user.hct.20170617.171922 test-keys"
I run a car audio / performance / engineering company. We're doing a SQ install on a 04 BMW M3 with all Audison Prima gear going to an Audison Bit 8.9 amp/processor.
I got a Behringer UCA-222 hoping to use it - plugging it into my tablet (Samsung Tab S 8.4") - it works perfectly without any configuration, so I had hoped it'd work with the Android HU as well.
Plugging it into the Android HU - it DOES work - I can play audio from any apps (YouTube, Google Voice Search both output to the USB device) - I have installed SoundAbout Pro to try and re-route all audio to the USB DAC but it doesn't work for everything.
My issues are:
- The FM radio plays through the internal pre-amp/amplifier.
- The volume control (whether through the touchscreen on the menu, or using the hardware knob) does not affect the USB device - there is no way to change it's volume from the head unit this far.
I'm ready/willing to flash/hack this unit as best I can, can't brick it as it belongs to a client (fingers crossed) but I definitely want to use the USB DAC full-time.
If I could find a way to loop the RCA inputs to the optical output on the UCA222 (maybe a custom app) that would be enough to route the radio output through the optical but that's definitely not ideal.
There has to be other people wanting/needing to do this! These units DACs leave a lot to be desired (I'm being nice) and there's a huge selection of great USB DACs.. Heck, in my configuration I won't even be using the DAC in the Behringer - it'll be all digital until it hits the Audison processor/amp with it's internal DAC feeding it's internal amp and a pre-amp that outputs to the separate sub-woofer amplifier (AP1D).
I have the deck setup on my desk right now hooked to a power supply and booted, on WiFi and ready for hacking. What can we do?
From what I've read the MCU controls all the hardware buttons - though I'm not sure it'll be required to mess with it..?
How does Android see the internal audio chip? I know the MCU communicates with it over SDIO, does android as well? I guess no as I read another thread that has a hack/app allowing more control over the audio chip by interfacing one the SoCs GPIO/SDIOs to the chip.
So, how does the radio app work then? Does it just send a signal telling the radio chip to route its audio to the audio chip? Or does Android actually see some sort of audio device for the radio? If it just tells the audio chip which "source" to use and the radio chip outputs directly to it, I'm not sure there's going to be a way to get radio over digital without a converter box to convert that analog output to digital..
All other Android outputs shouldn't be a problem, from what I can tell everything else is already playing over USB for me.. except the radio and volume control.. even the "beeps" you hear when adjusting the volume come over the internal audio device not USB..but Google Voice Search and YouTube work over USB fine..
---------- Post added at 03:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 AM ----------
I find it odd that your seeing pops/clicks.. I have had no issues and fully stable audio from the apps it does work from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's cool. I suppose you're member of Strictly Sound Quality group on Facebook ?
I'm really into SQ as well, Pioneer Premier / Hivi amps, MiniDSP C-DSP 6X8, Wavecor/Peerless 3 way active.
Anyways, back on topic: You say your Behringer UCA-222 outputs music without problem with regular players, but does it play in stereo ? Because my PCM2704 also plays audio nice without any click/pops noises but it output both channel mono, so no stereo effect, every sounds plays on both Left and Right. Sounds pretty dull for a SQ setup, it stages like poop lol. I only get stereo out of my PCM2704 if I play it through USB Audio Player Pro app, because that app uses his own USB audio driver.
For you FM Radio routing problem, is there I way to sum input channels on your DSP ? IE: With my MiniDSP I can play both SPDIF and RCA Inputs at the same time on specified output channels.
Thanks for your participation btw. :good:

Thought about getting a minidsp but the beringer was available locally and as I'm actually not using the DAC within it, I didn't care.
The 222 does have a monitor switch which sums all inputs to the 1/8 headphone jack but not over optical.
I could potentially write a small background app to sum the rca input on it to the output constantly but still have the volume control problem.

Video of interface.. I'll make a demo on how the USB audio actually works shortly, I'll install a frequency generator app so I can test stereo for you.

Happy New Year guys!
1. All Rockchips headunits (rk3066/3188/3288/px3/px5) have a big problem with their DWC-OTG USB 2.0 controller kernel driver from Designware/Synopsys.
This driver generates a huge amount of interrupts on usb bus (about 15000 per second under load and 8000 minimum without any use of usb devices). So any wide streaming devices like USB-DACs, USB-CAM, EasyCAP and others cannot properly function. USB-DACs on samplerates higher 44100 or 48000 Hz and bit depth higher 16 bit generate many pop and clicks in sound or just noise. All usb streams are very slow, even copying files from usb flesh to sd card.
This problem is well known and it has the resolution - kernel driver needs to be patched.
Here are some links:
http://hwswbits.blogspot.ru/2013/09/dwc-usb-interrupt-spam-in-rockchip-socs.html?m=1
https://www.google.ru/amp/s/ideechaniz.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/dwc-otg-drivers/amp/
We have not kernel sources to patch it. Any open sources will not go because of many special functions of our HUs have been compiled into kernel. I wrote about this to SHEN ZHEN KLYDE ELECTRONICS CO twice, but no reaction (I have their HU).
So you cannot play sound higher then 16 bit 44100Hz or 48000Hz. If you try 24 bit and/or 96kHz you can hear clicks and pops or just a noise. The first step to make the situation better is to get usb-dac/converter with only FULL-speed (12Mb/s) usb-reciever chip, like sa9023, te7022, pcm2704(6) (mono!) etc. Unplug all usb devices except usb-dac from usb. Note that wifi and processor's loads affect too. Edit /etc/audio_policy.conf to limit sr and bd to 44100 and 16 for usb_device section. If you want to use your high speed usb-dac you can try to find and use a full speed usb hub on ali or ebay.
2. All android HUs for now have mcu and android boards inside. All apps like youtube, navigation, poweramp etc are sounding from android board and all of them can be routed to play through usb-dac using usb audio function of android. But dvd, bt hands-free, radio are located on and managed by mcu board. So sound from them does not going to/through android board. The only one way to get their sound on your car audio processor is connection of rca-outs and set processor to auto switch between analog and digital inputs by signal determination (helix dsp and many others can do that).
3. The volume. The best way for SQ is to use the dsp's volume adjustment. Note for digital volume adjustment every -6bB from max level excludes 1 bit from effective bit depth. So you loose your sound quality (dynamic range) by digital volume adjusting on HU because you can only have 16bit output (see 1). But if you WANT to do it there is one difficult way - write your own app service to catch mcu's broadcast commands for volume adjusting and then send alsamixer's comnands to change usb dac volume same level (need to install alsa). I made it for rk3066/rk3188 HUs on petrows microntec headunit service. Hope this help https://github.com/petrows/RK3066-Headunit-service
https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&sour...MQ5YQBCCcwAA&usg=AOvVaw2W8hsXylKrMeQRC2R2mOVt
This service also can send buttons presses to Poweramp, USB Audio Player Pro, Spotify, PCRadio etc. But it is for MTCB, not for MTCD HUs. I dont know a difference of Microntek services of this versions of HUs. So I cannot say will it work or not on MTCD.

Question which has better sound?
Chich output > dsp > amp or
Usb dac > amp
??? I think the sound should just be good with a dsp or im wrong?

aluver said:
All apps like youtube, navigation, poweramp etc are sounding from android board and all of them can be routed to play through usb-dac using usb audio function of android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man for the detailed post.
How do i do this. Is it in the developer options where we select to use Audio source for USB . What would happen in case we have multiple USB devices in use?
Thanks in advance.

kaderekusen said:
Question which has better sound?
Chich output > dsp > amp or
Usb dac > amp
??? I think the sound should just be good with a dsp or im wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean under "Chich output". RCA? I think dsp cannot make the sound of HU's RCA better. It has a very poor quality with low voltage - so you get a lot of noise and "unsharped" sound.
---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 AM ----------
piyush7243 said:
Thanks man for the detailed post.
How do i do this. Is it in the developer options where we select to use Audio source for USB . What would happen in case we have multiple USB devices in use?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think dev options have it. I think usb audio must work from the box on android 6 firmware, but it may depends from firmware version. To dermine usb audio driver exist in kernel just plug in your usb-dac and view file /proc/asound/cards - it will show you all plugged sound devices for this moment. But note at first you need to entirely stop all installed direct players like UAPP, Hybi, NeutronMP etc.

aluver said:
[/COLOR]I don't think dev options have it. I think usb audio must work from the box on android 6 firmware, but it may depends from firmware version. To dermine usb audio driver exist in kernel just plug in your usb-dac and view file /proc/asound/cards - it will show you all plugged sound devices for this moment. But note at first you need to entirely stop all installed direct players like UAPP, Hybi, NeutronMP etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dev options have it and i have enabled it there as well. but not sure on which USB port. Also currently i am at the highest firmware level and ROM level. No 3rd party USB driver is installed, still cant get the USB audio out. I have even replaced the audio_policy.conf.
I will check if the device is getting detected or not

piyush7243 said:
Dev options have it and i have enabled it there as well. but not sure on which USB port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good info. Is your firmware from enthusiasts or from a producer?
You have to use USB port for 3g-modem - it must be otg. But on my Klyde rk3066 mtcb hu I have all 3 usb ports working with dac.
audio_policy.conf must be in /etc for proper usb audio functionality.

Didn't understand about usb modem. I use 2 HDD and a USB DAC .the firmware is Hotaudio Dasaita default one. Do you have the audio_policy.conf file for my reference
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I mean otg usb port is usually marked "3g-modem" or like that.
audio_policy.conf may be different for our HUs. Besides, I have android 4.4.4 rom. But I attach my 2 versions of audio_policy.conf. The second version is from ROM that contains a file /system/lib/hw/audio.alsa_usb.rk30board.so. So policy contains alsa_usb section.
What is your result with driver?

aluver said:
I mean otg usb port is usually marked "3g-modem" or like that.
audio_policy.conf may be different for our HUs. Besides, I have android 4.4.4 rom. But I attach my 2 versions of audio_policy.conf. The second version is from ROM that contains a file /system/lib/hw/audio.alsa_usb.rk30board.so. So policy contains alsa_usb section.
What is your result with driver?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for putting this here. Btw nothing was marked on my USB cables so swapping usb helped and one of them worked on apps.
Now another quick question. Tried Poweramp but it didn't see the usb DAC. Jet audio would hang. Any other music apps which doesn't use its proprietary driver.
I can use UAPP but it seems that it locks the usb DAC and doesn't allow the other apps to have access.
With UAPP it says usb device initialised but yesterday no such message.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

piyush7243 said:
Now another quick question. Tried Poweramp but it didn't see the usb DAC. Jet audio would hang. Any other music apps which doesn't use its proprietary driver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you use Poweramp v3 alpha? What version? Better use v703 for your android 6. What samplerate do you have in audio_policy.conf at usb_device section now? Need to limit it 44100 and 16 bit depth. Poweramp 3 may not work with usb-dac directly in case of many software and hardware combinations reasons. But you can use Poweramp v2 - it may work as other apps through android kernel usb audio driver.
---------- Post added at 08:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------
piyush7243 said:
I can use UAPP but it seems that it locks the usb DAC and doesn't allow the other apps to have access.
With UAPP it says usb device initialised but yesterday no such message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote earlier about this. All direct players always lock usb-dac. I am not sure but seems to be Poweramp v3 alpha does not lock dacs, internal at least. Try it.

I am back , after the reboot, the usb DAC is not being used again. Ughhhh. Need to break my head more to get to bottom of this behaviour.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Finding the Right Music Player for the Essential Phone's USB-C headphone adapter

One of the disappointing trends for me with new phones is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jacks. However, given the popularity of wireless headphones and the large market share of Apple devices I expect the trend to continue and headphone jacks to be found on fewer and fewer phones in the future.
I imagine that I'm in the minority of users who use neither streaming services or Bluetooth headphones. My music is usually high bit rate FLAC, ACC or MP3 depending on when I ripped it. My initial listening on the included 3.5mm DAC was not promising. A lack of dynamic range and low volume even on efficient in ear monitors (IEMs) made me think about finding a replacement.
The problem is there aren't at lot of options for small passive DACs. And my bet is that most of the current phones with no 3.5mm jack use the same chipset that Essential uses - the Conexant CX20985 for their headphone adapters. (For more info - see the AnandTech article - Conexant Introduces USB-C Digital Audio Compliant Chips.)
So that lead me to see if perhaps there was something that could be done in software. Based on my limited research it would appear that Android above version 5.0 has a built in USB to DAC driver. It also appears that this is what Essential uses to access the USB adapter. However, this driver is quite limited. Consistent with what I heard, the driver resamples everything to 16-bit 48kHz and limits the dynamic range. (For more info see extreamsd.com and their USB audio driver page.)
Good news! There are several music player applications on GooglePlay that are capable of natively recognizing the Essential DAC over USB. The difference in sound quality, volume and dynamic range is like night and day. The most polished one I've used is the paid application Onkyo HF Player. However, the free application HibyMusic also works, but has few rough edges. The Onkyo application sounds good enough for me to make finding a better DAC no longer necessary.
One WARNING on both programs and the Essential DAC - when the DAC is recognized by the programs they frequently turn the initial volume level to 100%. If you do this while you've started music playing and have the headphones on you will be in for a very rude surprise. Trust me I learned this the hard way - plug everything in with no music playing and be sure to lower the volume first.
Update from comments - Apps that support the Essential DAC directly:
1. Onkyo HF Player
2. HibyMusic
3. USB Audio Player Pro
4. Neutron Music Player

USB Audio Player Pro has a custom driver that supports bit-perfect on android. I use it with external DACs such as the Meridian Explorer 2 (MQA works perfectly) and the AudioQuest Dragonfly Red - hardware volume control works.

TimboC2000 said:
One of the disappointing trends for me with new phones is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jacks. However, given the popularity of wireless headphones and the large market share of Apple devices I expect the trend to continue and headphone jacks to be found on fewer and fewer phones in the future.
I imagine that I'm in the minority of users who use neither streaming services or Bluetooth headphones. My music is usually high bit rate FLAC, ACC or MP3 depending on when I ripped it. My initial listening on the included 3.5mm DAC was not promising. A lack of dynamic range and low volume even on efficient in ear monitors (IEMs) made me think about finding a replacement.
The problem is there aren't at lot of options for small passive DACs. And my bet is that most of the current phones with no 3.5mm jack use the same chipset that Essential uses - the Conexant CX20985 for their headphone adapters. (For more info - see the AnandTech article - Conexant Introduces USB-C Digital Audio Compliant Chips.)
So that lead me to see if perhaps there was something that could be done in software. Based on my limited research it would appear that Android above version 5.0 has a built in USB to DAC driver. It also appears that this is what Essential uses to access the USB adapter. However, this driver is quite limited. Consistent with what I heard, the driver resamples everything to 16-bit 48kHz and limits the dynamic range. (For more info see extreamsd.com and their USB audio driver page.)
Good news! There are several music player applications on GooglePlay that are capable of natively recognizing the Essential DAC over USB. The difference in sound quality, volume and dynamic range is like night and day. The most polished one I've used is the paid application Onkyo HF Player. However, the free application HibyMusic also works, but has few rough edges. The Onkyo application sounds good enough for me to make finding a better DAC no longer necessary.
One WARNING on both programs and the Essential DAC - when the DAC is recognized by the programs they frequently turn the initial volume level to 100%. If you do this while you've started music playing and have the headphones on you will be in for a very rude surprise. Trust me I learned this the hard way - plug everything in with no music playing and be sure to lower the volume first.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this, I was searching just today for something that would be compatible with the USB-C output and I didn't want to waste money on anything that won't work on the Essential. And I have an Onkyo receiver for my living room to boot. I wonder how the Iron Maiden flavored version of the app works? I am a Maiden fan as well. Maybe I'll try that version and report back on this thread.

A quick update. For $9.00 I figured I’d give the Google Pixel DAC a try. It only samples at 48kHz. It also provides no identifying information as to manufacturer. So it works, but the Essential DAC is superior.
For a small compact passive DAC the new Razer Phone DAC at $20 would be the one to try. It is 24bit and THX certified, but as yet untested on the Essential Phone. So it may only work on the Razer.

How do you know if the app has native support?
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs

avd said:
How do you know if the app has native support?
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Onkyo program will identify the DAC and tell you the sampling modes. Both programs bring up a dialog box noting a USB device when it is plugged in.
But you have to rely on the program author and description to see if they support DACs natively.

Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.

oken735 said:
Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?

chiadrum said:
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes a "regular" USB to USB C. Monotone had it on sale this week.
Out you can use software like synching.
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs

chiadrum said:
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use a UPnP source, or ftp/webdav, but yea, no option to use any of those natively, without downloading the songs to local storage as far as I know
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

Initially was very disappointed with the supplied dac. I can hear static n audio breaking up. Then i realised that the issue only appear when I'm on low volume with equalizer turned on. Bumping up the volume fixed the static n breaking up issue. So my current setup is supplied dac + portable amp. The amp is to control the volume as connecting directly to the dac is too loud for my preference. It is the best sounding setup i have thus far. Sounds better than pairing my old mp3 player with the same amp. I'm using poweramp to play my songs.

oken735 said:
Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using Neutron Trial version (which is a full version limited to 5 days) and I don't see much of a difference between its direct USB driver vs generic driver. Could you please check in the settings Audio Hardware, what is the bitrate listed? For me when I enable "Direct USB Driver" its fixing the bitrate to 48kHz, is it the same for you as well?

Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.

mvadu said:
I am using Neutron Trial version (which is a full version limited to 5 days) and I don't see much of a difference between its direct USB driver vs generic driver. Could you please check in the settings Audio Hardware, what is the bitrate listed? For me when I enable "Direct USB Driver" its fixing the bitrate to 48kHz, is it the same for you as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The direct USB driver, to my knowledge, is the setting that enables direct DAC driver. The generic driver is a setting that says to use a less specific version of the direct DAC driver that should work with more USB DACs. Each of these settings have submenus that you can play with that should allow you to change the format, frequency, mode, and other settings you might want.
When I have both direct USB driver and generic driver selected, my driver shows up as conexant USB audio, and my bits show up as 32, and frequency 44100. I haven't tryied to tweak the bitrate/frequency as I am happy with the sound from the stock settings with some small EQing for my headphones.

cgprats said:
Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used PowerAmp for a while sound was OK, but it did not appear to be loud enough some times. also tweaking the settings, EQ, etc. seem to make it worse for me.
I had paid for Power amp back with my nexus 4 and loved the app, but it just does not sound right for me know.
Also I'm definitely not an audiophile just want to hear my music.
I have been testing Vinyl Music Player and it seems to sound better to me. This is from the Fdroid repository.
Free, No adds and no extra permissions, but no extra settings also.

oken735 said:
The direct USB driver, to my knowledge, is the setting that enables direct DAC driver. The generic driver is a setting that says to use a less specific version of the direct DAC driver that should work with more USB DACs. Each of these settings have submenus that you can play with that should allow you to change the format, frequency, mode, and other settings you might want.
When I have both direct USB driver and generic driver selected, my driver shows up as conexant USB audio, and my bits show up as 32, and frequency 44100. I haven't tryied to tweak the bitrate/frequency as I am happy with the sound from the stock settings with some small EQing for my headphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense.. Have you been able to use the headset to receive to calls while you are listening to music? I can't hear the incoming calls, and if I make a call, it goes to device speaker. Both cases it stops the music though.

mvadu said:
Makes sense.. Have you been able to use the headset to receive to calls while you are listening to music? I can't hear the incoming calls, and if I make a call, it goes to device speaker. Both cases it stops the music though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it depends on the Rom you are running. When I was on nougat, receiving phone calls while music was playing was a crapshoot.
On Lineage OS, the few times I have received or made a call with the headphones plugged in, it worked fine, I could hear them and it came through the headphones, and it even switched to earpiece when I unplugged the adapter. :good:
I'm not sure how it is on the current official Oreo 8.1 release as I haven't used it for enough time where I would have ran into a situation where I was making or taking a call with headphones in.

cgprats said:
Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I wrote this originally I tried the paid version of PowerAMP and its beta version. Neither was able to natively recognize the Essential DAC. I'd used PowerAMP for years.
I haven't bothered to try it since I switched to Onkyo HF

Maybe you want to add BlackPlayer EX to the list. I proved with the Onkyo HF Player, HibyMusic and USB Audio Player Pro and I can hardly find any significant difference.
Also I tried with the LeEco LeMax 2 headphones (the only one with usb- c port I have) and the ubs-c to 3.5mm adapter. The LeEco headphone are way much better. Better bass, better clarity, greater sharpness. Even at louder music. So, if you want to recomend a cheap but great usb-c headphones, the LeEco option is wonderful.

So glad I found this thread. we just got two essentials in the house and I am interested in some of the add-ons but really just wanted the USB to mini adapter to work a bit better.
I'd forgotten about USB audio pro, which I bought some time back for a tablet and outboard DAC.
works great with the usb-c to mini, and it lets you browse Tidal and, iirc, upnp libraries.
For those interested, just now essential is offering 3 months of Tidal for free.

Mirror phone to tablet w/ full control from tablet?

Is there a way to mirror your phone to a tablet and be able to control the phone via the tablets touchscreen?
Kind of like in the mirrorlink for the car stereos.
Like here
Specifically what i want is to be able to use Gmaps, youtube and netflix etc. on the tablet without using tethering.
I have unlimited data on the phone but they want to cap my tethering.
I am looking into this because i am trying to set up a car stereo with android.
I have found all the android head units that work easily with my car but the reviews of their sound quality are very bad and they do not have any audio control. I am kind of an audio snob. There are a couple with some better built-in amps but they want 300$ and they are still pretty crappy.
So my idea is just bypass a head unit and run a tablet directly to a good DSP (digital signal processor). Preferably one with an amp.
This is an explanation of a DSP
(long video but very good)
This will allow me to stream all the audio directly to amps with a sound quality and that you just cannot get from a head unit.
And be able to have full control of the sound from the tablet itself via an app ((example later in the video).
Plus I could just mount the tablet with magnets and have a cubby behind it where the stereo used to be.
Im sure this question has been answered before but i just could not find a video or thread that properly answers it.
Thanks.
Hopefully this is in the right forum

myphonesbetter said:
Is there a way to mirror your phone to a tablet and be able to control the phone via the tablets touchscreen?
Kind of like in the mirrorlink for the car stereos.
Like here
Specifically what i want is to be able to use Gmaps, youtube and netflix etc. on the tablet without using tethering.
I have unlimited data on the phone but they want to cap my tethering.
I am looking into this because i am trying to set up a car stereo with android.
I have found all the android head units that work easily with my car but the reviews of their sound quality are very bad and they do not have any audio control. I am kind of an audio snob. There are a couple with some better built-in amps but they want 300$ and they are still pretty crappy.
So my idea is just bypass a head unit and run a tablet directly to a good DSP (digital signal processor). Preferably one with an amp.
This is an explanation of a DSP
(long video but very good)
This will allow me to stream all the audio directly to amps with a sound quality and that you just cannot get from a head unit.
And be able to have full control of the sound from the tablet itself via an app ((example later in the video).
Plus I could just mount the tablet with magnets and have a cubby behind it where the stereo used to be.
Im sure this question has been answered before but i just could not find a video or thread that properly answers it.
Thanks.
Hopefully this is in the right forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, try the ScreenShare app, I think it can do this via Bluetooth but I don't know if it supports controlling the phones functions via the tablet.
I kinda doubt you'll find a way to do what you're looking for, but you might.
The only ways to do this are:
1) have both devices connected to the same WiFi network(this will not work when traveling unless you have some kind of mobile hotspot)
2) share your phone's network to the tablet which will count against your tethering limit.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

New PX6 Headunit: DSP or no DSP?

Hi there. After two years on a PX5 it's time to get a new HU with a PX6 chipset. My PX5 was without a DSP but the sound was really good after updating the MCU to 3.x.
So I'm looking for this kind of device
https://www.ebay.de/itm/392478816533
This one again has no built in DSP but the price is good. A PX6 with DSP (Dasaita e. g.) is about 100 bucks higher than this. But is it worth the difference?
It's gonna ne installed on a Golf MK6 with Dynaudio.
Thanks

i bought a Xtrons PX5 without DSP module and then bought the DSP chip (my board support to add this chip) and there is a big difference with audio!

Another option is to buy a unit and install the Hal9K ROM on it (it's very easy to do, 5 minute job). It comes pre-packaged with Viper4Android (an android DSP app), which will give 95% of the inbuilt DSP functionality, plus a lot more. Hal9k is free but you need to pay a one-off fee of 10 Euro for ongoing updates. Works out a lot cheaper than the premium for a DSP unit.
I have a Dasaita with DSP, but I don't use any of the DSP functionality, I do everything in Viper instead, and to my ears, it sounds fantastic. But as a disclaimer, I have never compared a unit with DSP to one without, so I have no idea on any quantifiable differences there may be

Then u dont have a advanced car speakers/amplifiers setup. When u have amps and speakers (not factory stuff) u really NEED DSP because of the fact that u need crossover points, gaining, etc for every single speaker/rca output. All fun and stuff viper this and that. But ViperFX app cannot do this, cannot create individual channels all of the sudden. This is something that needs to be hardware built in.
Im waiting on my 2nd android headunit now in 2 month. Because i ordered one (with dsp), turns out it only has some fake ass 13band eq and a front rear shifter, no sub volume/gain control, no filtering. Besides missing allot of audio settings it sounded also like utter sh#t. The voltage out of the RCA are also way to low. So i turned it back.
Now waiting on the one with Dedicated hardware DSP. So i have individual channel audio control, real 32band eq, Filter Cutoff settings per channel (low pass, high pass). My guess is that this unit would work extremely well for my purpose and audio setup (1x 2channel amp front, 1x 2channel amp rear deck, 1x monoblock subwoofers).
Honestly i dont really get it how they cannot include subwoofer volume and hz filtering on a Android Headunit. Those are like basic audio settings in like every 1 din car radio.

AddixNL said:
Then u dont have a advanced car speakers/amplifiers setup. When u have amps and speakers (not factory stuff) u really NEED DSP because of the fact that u need crossover points, gaining, etc for every single speaker/rca output. All fun and stuff viper this and that. But ViperFX app cannot do this, cannot create individual channels all of the sudden. This is something that needs to be hardware built in.
Im waiting on my 2nd android headunit now in 2 month. Because i ordered one (with dsp), turns out it only has some fake ass 13band eq and a front rear shifter, no sub volume/gain control, no filtering. Besides missing allot of audio settings it sounded also like utter sh#t. The voltage out of the RCA are also way to low. So i turned it back.
Now waiting on the one with Dedicated hardware DSP. So i have individual channel audio control, real 32band eq, Filter Cutoff settings per channel (low pass, high pass). My guess is that this unit would work extremely well for my purpose and audio setup (1x 2channel amp front, 1x 2channel amp rear deck, 1x monoblock subwoofers).
Honestly i dont really get it how they cannot include subwoofer volume and hz filtering on a Android Headunit. Those are like basic audio settings in like every 1 din car radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which unit have you ordered that has all of the DSP features that you describe? And if you have such an "advanced" setup, why wouldn't you use an external DSP unit for complete control?